The Tournament: A HPxYYH Crossover Fic
by Ana Mei
Summary: Hogwarts is envaded by four powerful wizards...who don't know why they are there! The Urameshi Team meets Dumbledore's Army in a weird cross-over, with an odd mix of anime and British schools. [just read it, yo]
1. An Unlikely Likeliness

[[[Okay, so I don't own either Harry Potter or Yu Yu Hakusho, but that's okay because I don't have to own them to write fanfics about them.

You all may think that a HP YYH crossover would make a really weird fanfic, but please try it out, cause I love writing and you just might like this story. As always, of course, I have NO idea where this fic is going yet, but we will both see! PLEASE REVIEW if you feel like it.]]]

[[[also, this fic takes place when all the main characters are about 15 or so . . . It really doesn't matter what year, as it doesn't go with the plot line of the books anyway.]]]

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Chapter 1: An Unlikely Likeliness

As the sun was swallowed beneath the dreary English clouds, a ruby red train pulled into platform 9 ¾ of the London train station. With its arrival, the group of hundreds of anxious students, many already dressed in their long black school robes, seemed to be electrified by pure excitement. This train was to take them all to school, a place that most children loathe to return to. Yet these students were not attending a regular boarding school. No, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was anything but regular.

The only students not enthusiastic about the train's arrival were four young boys standing separately from the rest of the students in a semi circle at the edge of the platform. Although none of them had been there before, or even to England before, they stood as if they owned the very ground they stood on.

The rest of the students, not knowing the foreign boys, and seeing the glaring look that the shortest of the four had for anyone who came more than ten feet from them, courteously ignored them. But the boys couldn't care less; none of them were very confident in their English anyway.

"This is by far the worst mission we have EVER been sent on," the tall, orange haired boy muttered as he lifted his giant trunk onto his shoulder as if it didn't weigh anything at all.

"Remind me to kill Botan next time I see her," the surly looking dark haired boy snorted.

As the train filled with the chattering students, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama unwisely waited until they were the last students left to board. When the line inside the train dissipated as students found their ways into their own little rooms, the four Japanese boys were left in the train corridor with no place left to sit.

"Well shit," one of them cursed.

"Calm down, there has to be room somewhere for us," the green-eyed beauty with long red hair declared, used to being the rational one of the group. "We are supposed to be meshing with these kids anyways."

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In that same cart, four other kids sat comfortably in their own cabin of the train. They had learned long ago not the waste time boarding the Hogwarts Express. The Express waits for no person.

As the train lurched into motion, they listened as the four unknown boys conversed in the hallway, apparently in a different language.

"What the bloody hell are they saying, anyways?" Ron whispered with a confused look contorting his boyish nose. "Is that Chinese? Great, we have China-men invading our school now."

"Oh shut up, Ron," Hermione hissed back, trying to listen into the four boys' conversation. "They're saying something about sitting down . . . and kicking some little kid's ass."

Harry, Ron and Neville stared blankly at the frizzy haired know-it-all.

"You speak Chinese?"

"It's Japanese, Ron, and I understand it now." She pulled out her wand and pointed it at her friend's bright red head. He stared down the wand with fear creeping into his expression. Hermione was scary with a wand sometimes.

****

"_Languanius_ _Japano_!" she muttered, and two thin red threads of light snaked their way from the end of her wand to the frightened Ron's ears. Harry and Neville watched, astonished, as the ribbons of red glittered with what they thought looked like golden Japanese symbols.

"Hermione, you study way too much over the summer, you know," Harry joked as the charm broke away from her wand and fluttered through Ron's head.

"It's a real simple charm, I can teach it to you. Or you could read the book I found it from. I learned all sorts of languages from it. Japanese, German, Chinese, Italian, even Hebrew. Course the spell only works a few hours the first time. To get it to stick, you really have to . . ."

"Hey! Shut up, I can hear them!"

"What are they saying, Ron?!" Neville practically bounced in his chair with excitement.

"Well one of them just said some really bad curses and threatened one of the others with something called a katana. Don't know what that means . . ."

"It's a sword," Hermione answered with a puzzled look. "Hmmmm . . ."

"I'm gonna invite them in," Harry suddenly announced, starting for the door.

"What?! No!"

"They sound scary!"

"They haven't got a place to sit, and there is plenty of room here! You know these seats are enchanted to expand when more people sit on them!" He stared down his friends with his bright green eyes, determined not to let the language barrier or nationality difference force the new kids to stand in the corridor the entire trip. Harry reached for the door handle again, but Hermione caught his arm.

"I agree Harry, but maybe we should all use the language charm first, in case they don't know much English."

"You're right."

"Count me out," Neville squeaked. "I'll just go sit with someone else for a bit."

Three minutes later, Harry spoke, wrote and understood Japanese fluently. He unlatched the cabin door a little timidly, while Neville squeaked behind him. The door zipped open and he stepped outside to meet four sets of surprised eyes staring him down. Using Harry as a human shield, Neville slipped out of the cabin with another squeak and walked quickly down the corridor to the next cart.

"Uh, Hi," Harry spoke in perfect Japanese, though his glasses were slipping down his nose on the sweat forming on his pale face. "Are you guys looking for a place to sit? Cuz there is some room in here if you wanna come in."

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As if the four boys weren't surprised enough to see the lanky, black haired boy step out of the room in the first place, his ability to speak Japanese down right confused them. And his daring kindness to ask them inside.

Kurama and Yusuke glanced sideways at each other, as they often did when they both needed a little reassurance when making decisions.

"Thank you, we would be honored to sit with you. My name is Kurama, and this is Hiei, Yusuke and Kuwabara."

"Uh, well, my name's Harry, and in here, err, are my friends Ron and Hermione."

"It's nice to meet you, Kurama," Hermione suddenly appeared at Harry side, her arm stretched out to shake the red head's hand, and her cheeks pink with embarrassment.

"You must be Hermione," the suave fox spirit cooed, taking her hand and giving it a gentle kiss. "The pleasure is all mine."

At his side, Hiei humfed with indignation at his friend's flirting. But the two young students' blushing stare down was broken short by a frustrated Yusuke.

"Right, well, I'm ready to sit down now. Doesn't matter where," he shoved past the two, elbowing Kurama's hand out of the way.

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After all of the kids were settled into the cabin, every other cabin of the cart opened with curious heads poking out of each room.

"Who are they?" the students whispered across to each other.

"No idea."

"Harry was speaking a different language!"

"Maybe he's more than a Parsel Mouth!"

"Those guys were scary!"

"Who are they!?"

"We DON'T KNOW!"

The train flew across the beautiful European landscape, cutting through plains of fields and ranges of mountains so beautiful Kurama could almost forgive Koenma for sending him on this crazy mission. He and his three team mates spent the rest of the ride making small conversation with the three English teens, all who seemed to speak perfect Japanese. After an hour and a half, however, the freckled red head began to stutter as he spoke and his grammar became broken and stressed.

"Ron, you need another go at it," the puffy haired girl announced, enthusiastically pulling out a thin stick from her robes. "Here let me . . ."

"Me can myself do it!" he protested as best as he could, pulling out his own stick.

As the four newbies watched with wonder, interest, and something of fear, Ron renewed Hermione's charm on himself. Kuwabara flinched as the ribbons wound from the wood into the kid's ears.

"What the hell was that?" Yusuke demanded as the last of the red and gold threads slipped into Ron's head.

"Witchcraft," Hiei predicted, his arm twitching toward a sword that wasn't hanging on his belt. Damn that Botan, he thought, wishing for his katana once again.

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"Well, yeah, its witchcraft," Harry said, looking rather confused at the reaction of the other boys. "You guys aren't muggles are you?" At that question, the boys looked even more confused; Harry tried to explain. "Don't you guys know magic? You have to in order to get into Hogwarts, even to get through the barrier to platform 9 ¾. Didn't you get your wands?"

Totally confused, and pissed off by the way Harry spoke as if all of this should be obvious, Yusuke started to say "No, we don't know magic, or what the hell you are talking about," but was cut off by his quick thinking friend.

"Yes, we know magic," Kurama sort of lied, "but not the kind that you know. We usually don't use wands to do our magic, and we really only know spells for fighting purposes. That's why we decided to transfer to Hogwarts. Perhaps we need more school supplies than what we were given. Are wands necessary with your magic?"

"With most of it," Hermione replied, her cheeks reddening again as they did most times she talked to the green eyed boy. "Don't worry though; I'm sure that Professor Dumbledore can help you out somehow."

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When the train finally reached its destination, the two groups split up to take different coaches, which Kuwabara loudly declared were pulled by nothing ("But there's nothing there! How are we moving?! Where's the horse?!").

On the way up to the castle, Yusuke and Kuwabara discussed how badly they planned to pummel Koenma and Botan for throwing them into this mission with just a ten minute briefing, while Hiei sat silently by Kurama, who stared out the window, watching their approach to the intricate castle.

The coach in front of them, which carried the only people who, as of yet, had had the guts to even say hello to them, was filled with hurried whispers.

"I don't know, that Kurama seemed alright to me, at least."

"Of course he did! He was putting the moves on you, Hermione!"

"I think they are okay, but I don't think they are telling us everything."

"He was NOT putting ANY moves on me!"

"Yes he was!"

"No he wasn't . . . and so what if he was?"

[[[next chapter up soon, please remember to leave reviews!!!]]]


	2. The Great Hall or Something Like It

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Chapter 2: The Great Hall or Something Like It

On the steps to the castle, Harry and Hermione took the opportunity to point out some of the major landmarks around Hogwarts.

"That's the Forbidden Forest. Best of you to steer clear of that."

"There is the Whomping Willow. It would be a good idea not to get too close to it either."

"And that of course is the lake. Brilliantly beautiful in the spring, but it's best not to swim in it. Giant squid."

"Is there anything here that isn't gonna try and kill us? Not that it could," Kuwabara said, parading his famous goofy grin as Lavender and Parvarti walked by whispering to each other and giving the boys sideways glances.

Before Harry could reply, however, the group was broken in half by two blundering bullies shoving a path clear on the stairs for their master-in-commander.

"The only thing you really need to be afraid of here is me," Draco smirked, spinning on his heals to face the group.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron ordered, rolling his eyes. He definitely wasn't in the mood to deal with the greasy haired, blonde git. "When did you understand Japanese, anyways?"

"Exactly what I was going to ask you, Weasel. I didn't think your little brain could handle another language."

Ron electrified with anger.

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Sensing the fight brewing between the two English boys, who obviously had a habit of sharing nasty comments like this, Yusuke didn't have the patience to wait out their scuffle. Plus, he was starting to like these three kids. He shoved between the giant, bodyguard like cronies and surprised Malfoy with a quick grab of his shirt.

"Apparently you were wrong, kid," he said in clear English, lifting Malfoy from the step. The surrounding kids all seemed to hear his declaration and stopped to watch the scene, as if someone had screamed "Fight!"

"Oh, this brute's got more in his mind than he looks too. Bravo," the blonde retorted unwisely, as Yusuke lifted him another foot, with only one hand. Kurama could tell that Yusuke was in a bad mood already, and the greasy blonde kid's attitude had really ticked him off. All of them could only pray that he could control himself.

"You bet your ass, I do," he glared, and, surprisingly, set Draco back on his feet, three steps below himself. "Now shove off, kid."

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Completely surprised and confused by the scene they had just watched, Harry, Ron and Hermione could only stare, open-mouthed, as Yusuke led the way up to the castle, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei following nonchalantly. As Crabbe and Goyle went to pick up their master, they found their feet again and followed behind the group of foreigners, the whispers of the other stunned students pushing them faster up the stairs.

Before they reached their new friends, however, Professor McGonagall had seized Yusuke's arm.

"This way, young men," she commanded, giving a little tug to his red jacket, which stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea of black robes. The three friends bounded up the remaining steps to the main hall, but McGonagall and her new prisoners had already disappeared through a side door.

With nothing more they could do for the Japanese boys, they took their seats at the Gryffindor table, hoping that McGonagall would go easy on the new students.

"I feel just awful for those poor boys. They seem so lost in our world. And they had to meet Malfoy and McGonagall before they even got inside!" Hermione worried, as the rest of the room chatted care-free around them.

"Yeah, they really do seem lost. Which worries me."

"They are kinda dubious, but at least we know they hate Malfoy too. Did you see that death-glare the short one was giving him? What's his name? He-man?"

"Hiei, Ron."

"Right, him. And that other one, Kuwabara, he . . ."

But the freckled boy stopped, distracted by the arrival of the first years, followed by McGonagall and the sorting hat. And trailing behind the group were four very surly looking boys in black Hogwarts robes, each with their pointed hats in their hands.

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"These are the stupidest looking hats I have ever seen," Kuwabara snorted, his face red with embarrassment, standing in front of a room full of kids trying to crane their necks to get a look at the exchange students.

"We are forever dishonored," Hiei growled beneath his breathe.

"I think this is rather fun," Kurama interjected, placing his wizard cap on his head in the fashion of the other students.

While his other team members snorted through the entire ceremony, Kurama watched with intrigue as the first year students were taken up, one by one, to be sorted by the giant, old hat. Everything here had surprised and interested him so far. As of yet, he could not decide if the magic used by the English was anything like the "magic" he and his team members used.

Finally, the ceremony was coming to a close. As the last first year waddled off to his seat edged on by furious clapping by his new roommates, the blue-robed old man at the center of the staff table approached the podium.

"Students! Students!" he cried, his arms in the air shushing the kids. "This year, we have an extra sorting ceremony to go through. These four young boys," he motioned toward the group, Kuwabara turning bright red as people began to point and snicker, "have come all the way from their homes in Japan to learn what it is to be a wizard in our land. As I'm sure they have already learned, the witchcraft schooling is quite different from where they come from, as is the way they use their talent of magic. So, it is hoped that each of you can help in their quest of learning, and perhaps, in turn you may learn something special from them."

The room hung in silence, completely confused.

"Now, Yusuke Urameshi, please try on our humble Sorting Hat!"

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[[[hope you like it so far. . . well, acctually, i don't cause i'm writing this for myself really! next chapter up soon. please tell me if you are reading this by REVIEWING IT.]]]


	3. Separted in a Strange World

Chapter 3: Separated in a Strange World

Even though, on the outside, Yusuke seemed totally calm and cool, almost as if he had done this all before, on the inside he fidgeted with fear. Through all the missions and adventures he had been on, any inanimate object they found that could talk turned out to be quite evil. Nonetheless, he walked to the stool, picked up the giant, rugged hat and sat down with it on his head.

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"Ohhhhhhh . . ." a voice in his ear whispered, making him jump a little in surprise. He could hear giggles from the students through the thick fabric of the hat.

"This will be fun," the voice continued. "Or rather, difficult for you. . . I can tell you have no idea what you are getting yourself into, but do not worry. I will sort you so that you will be best suited for your task."

Yusuke nearly ripped the hat off his head. What the hell?! This thing knows about the mission?! It must be reading my mind! Damnit!

"Calm down," the hat cooed before Yusuke could tear it off. "I am merely a singing sorting hat. You needn't worry about it. Now . . . for your house . . . yes, you seem best suited for GRYFFINDOR!"

Taking this as his cue to leave, he lifted the hat off his head and lightly placed it back on the stool, as if it might explode and start shouting his secrets to the world. After witnessing the entire sorting ceremony for the first years, he knew what he was supposed to do when the hat shouted Gryffindor, but he still didn't know _what_ it was.

Unlike when each of the first years ran to their new house tables, the hall was completely silent as Yusuke walked to the table with the red and gold runner. Well, silent until . . .

"Yusuke! Over here!"

Although he still looked completely uncaring and cool, Yusuke's well-hidden anxiety was washed clean as the crazy-haired boy and his two friends leaned backwards in their seats and motioned him to sit with them. He gladly took the seat in between Harry and Ron. As his cheeks met the bench, the hall exploded in cheers of welcome from the Gryffindor table, in a kind of delayed reaction.

"Yes, yes! Congratulations, Gryffindor for the fine addition to your ranks!" the white haired professor cheered, and the hall quieted as he announced the hat's next victim.

"Kazuma Kuwabara, please approach the stool!"

Yusuke gave a small laugh when his friend jumped at the sound of his named being called. As Kuwabara reached the giant hat and laid it on his head, he merely watched with interest and curiosity of which name the hat would shout.

Moments later, the hat seemed to . . . chuckle. The hall went deadly silent, watching the tall boy quiver underneath the hat.

"HUFFLEPUFF!!!" it shouted, finally, causing everyone in the room to jump, including Kuwabara. The room quickly recovered from the shock and the Hufflepuff table boomed with claps and whistles.

"Kurama," the white haired man called, eyeing the long haired boy from over his half-moon glasses. "Please." he motioned towards the hat, but the boy had already started for it, obviously eager to be 'sorted.'

The rest of the students, however, looked on in confusion.

"Just 'Kurama?'" Ron asked to the air with one eyebrow higher than the other.

"Your friend doesn't have a last name?" Hermione turned to Yusuke, interested, but was met by a I'm-trying-to-hide-something-from-you look.

"Well," the dark haired boy laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. Everyone that heard the question, and some that didn't, where now leaning in towards him to hear the answer. "Yeah, he sorta does, but we all just call him Kurama so it really doesn't matter, right?"

Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but Yusuke was saved as the entire hall turned towards Kurama and the hat.

The fox boy had been wearing the hat for less than 20 seconds, and was almost in a fit of giggles over something no one else could hear, as the hat and the boy conversed on a mental level none of them could reach. [1]

After another few laughs from Kurama, and a lurch from the hat, as if it had nodded, the rip near the brim opened wide to shout "RAVENCLAW!!"

Obviously annoyed at how damned long this ceremony thing was taking, Hiei didn't even wait for the old man to finish calling him forward ("Hiei, it is now your turn," Dumbledore beckoned with a smile.). He picked up the hat with a look of contempt, and placed it on his head. As short as the fire apparition was, the hat nearly consumed his entire torso, which brought laughs from groups of kids around the hall.

Hiei was under the hat nearly ten seconds before it shouted "SLYTHERIN" and practically spit the kid out of itself.

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The feast they received was, by far, the oddest one the boys had ever eaten. It was good, though, a fact that Hiei would miss, as he sat among the black clad students touching absolutely nothing at the table.

Yusuke spent most of the feast chatting with the three kids he had met on the train, all who seemed trustworthy and friendly, though somewhat dorky. He was starting to think that all English kids were rather nerdy, until two older boys, both donning their black school hats with the tops flipped over, approached the boy called Ron. He couldn't help but notice the flaming red hair and dense freckles that all three of them shared.

"Ronald, pumpkins," one of the boys teased, leaning over the red-head, whose face color instantly went as bright as his hair, "mummy gave this to us to give to you!" The older boy pushed a package into the smaller kids hands.

"She knew that you'd needed new knickers and forgot to pack them for you! Lucky we were there for her to give them to before the Express took off!" the other boy, who looked exactly like his brother, down the last freckle, teased as he ruffled Ron's hair.

"Shove off, Fred! Bloody hell, I hate you guys!" Now completely red in the face and neck, Ron hid the package under the table and tried to bury himself under his arms as the kids around them laughed as immature people must laugh at such a situation. Yusuke, being himself, also thought this was hilarious, and laughed extra hard, which caught the twins' attention.

"So you're the exchange student staying in Gryffindor, eh?" the one Ron called Fred asked, shoving some kids over so he could sit in the area. "You are gonna love our house."

"Especially our house ghost. He may be a tad melancholy, but none of the others can flip their heads off their necks like ours can!" At this, the bite Yusuke was eating got stuck in his throat, and he nearly choked.

"Ghosts? You can SEE ghosts here?"

"Well, yeah, there are lots of ghost who roam the castle."

"And a poltergeist."

Yusuke decided it was better not to ask, which would make him seem even more of a clueless outsider. Someday, he determined to tell his new friends about time HE had spent as a ghost, but now probably wasn't the time.

The feast came to a close, as all things must, and the clueless boys followed the flow of excited, yet tired children out of the hall. No matter how hard he tried, Yusuke could not get over how stupid they all looked in the black robes, especially Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara, who he saw standing aside in the Great Hall. Yusuke pointed them out to Harry and they made their way through the crowd to them.

"Having fun yet?" Kurama asked as Yusuke picked up a littler kid that he had accidentally stepped over.

"Great fun." he said, half sarcastically. "Now what?"

"Well, we are heading up to the tower," Harry piped in. "We can show you the way up there, but we don't know where the other houses are. You guys'll have to get someone from your houses to help you."

Suddenly realizing what "sorting" and "houses" meant in this place, Yusuke had a small urge of panic.

"You mean, we can't stay together?" he asked with his mouth hanging open.

"Yeah, that's how the kids at my table explained it," Kuwabara answered, shoving his hands in his pockets as if this bothered him as well. "And none of them could tell me where the other houses are. Guess it's a secret to the other kids. So we don't know where the rest of us will be." He glared at the wall at the end of his report, obviously upset.

Seeing the looks of confusion and curiosity on the English kids' faces, Kurama smiled reassuringly at his teammates.

"Don't worry, we'll see each other in classes, and we'll just have to make extra effort to hang out afterwards. The front steps looked like a cool place to hang out, especially under the beautiful starry sky," he stepped past the group, waving to a young Ravenclaw girl he had met, who turned bright red as she giggled her way over to him.

"Hey Ka-rama!" she beamed, looking up at the tall boy. "Want me to show you to our house? The castle can be kinda confusing sometimes. When I was new here, last year, when I was a first year, I got lost at least 50 times a week in the first month. You just gotta find the right staircase for the right time of day…" she babbled on, leading the fox-boy up a grand set of stairs. Yusuke watched him walk on without looking back.

"Well, I've had one hell of a day. Let's fine that Gryffin-dorm thing and get sleep, guys!" he motioned towards Harry, Hermione, and Ron, leading them towards the same stair steps.

Still standing in the same spots, Hiei and Kuwabara glared at Yusuke as he too left them to fend for themselves.

"This frickin' sucks," Kuwabara growled.

"For once, I actually agree with you, imbecile."

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[1]okay, I go from the book, and I say that the sorting hat does not talk until it shouts the house name, so there!

[[[wahhhhahahaha!!! I actually have a plot in mind for this! I don't know when I'll get chapter four up, but it should be rather soon. Please, tell me what you'all think!]]]


	4. Why You Little

Chapter 4: Why You Little…

After being publicly humiliated, forced to wear a dress, abandoned by his friends and learning that he would be rooming in a dungeon along with the stupidest, most stuck up pricks to ever walk this world, Hiei became officially pissed off. To top it all off, he couldn't even sneak out of this maze of a castle, seeing as the way that he had remembered led to the main gates just plain didn't. Recalling what the giggling girl that had taken Kurama away earlier that night had said about moving stairs and hallways, Hiei cursed into the dead air.

It was now after midnight, and the short-tempered demon found himself perched on the top of a set of stairs that he distinctly remembered had pointed in the opposite direction. He swiftly jumped to the banister and looked down. Below about five stories was the hallway he was looking for.

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"Hey, there's Hiei now!" Ron whispered to his two closest friends, all three of whom were huddled together underneath Harry's Invisibility Cloak. They had followed Yusuke to this very spot when, moments before they could reach the staircase, it had swiveled to a different location, though they knew that it would be back in five minutes, at least. They watched with interest as the short boy jumped onto the banister with amazing ease and grace. He reminded Harry of the acrobats that Dudley use to watch on television.

"What's he doing?" Ron muttered, "He's so gonna fall to his death." Harry doubted this. Though the exchange student looked lost, he also looked very confident in his balance.

Suddenly, the boy bent his knees and vanished. Hermione gave a loud gasp and, forgetting that they were suppose to be hiding, ran out from under the cloak to the spot where Hiei had last been. Stunned, Ron and Harry followed her. All of them gripped the banister, preparing to see the mangled body of their peer on the floor five stories down. But it wasn't there. They arrived just in time to see the spiky head of the perfectly alive Hiei disappearing down the hallway.

"Bloody brilliant! How did he do that?!"

"Did he just Apparate and Disapparate?"

"For the last bloody time, it is impossible to Apparate or Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds!!!"

"Tell that to him, Hermione!"

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With the arrival of Hiei on the front steps of the castle, the group was completed. The four friends stood in a circle, one half higher than the other on the old stone walk, in the darkness of the new moon. They, of course, first complained about every inconvenience that they had encountered before getting down to business.

"I can't believe these uniforms! Even Kurama's pink school uniform is better than this ugly black dress."

"Do you have to drag my uniform down into this, Yusuke?"

"It's the people here I don't like. They seem so. . ."

"Dorky."

"Yeah, we really hit Nerdsville here. Though that will make it easier to become 'Number One Toughest Punk of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'" Everyone stared at Kuwabara.

"Normally, I would fight you for the title of 'Toughest Punk,' but you can have this one, pal," Yusuke laughed.

"Well, anyway," Kurama broke in, holding the orange-haired brute back as he reached for his friend's collar, "we really can't do anything until we find out why we are here."

Suddenly, Kurama noticed a black shape moving between the trees on the edge of the forest that they had been warned was 'forbidden.' As the figure slowly and creepily glided towards the castle, the other boys noticed it as well. They waited in anticipation, knowing that it may pose a threat, but it was nothing they wouldn't be willing to deal with. They were ALL eager to release some frustration on any poor soul that unwisely decided to mess with them tonight.

The figure reached the first step, its hood low over the face. It stood there, motionless for a minute before Yusuke lost his patience with the stranger.

"You lost, freak?" he sneered, looking sideways at the figure.

"No," came a feminine voice from under the hood, "but I heard that you boys are." The figure suddenly ripped the entire cloak off and threw it to the side, where it vanished before hitting the ground. Now they could see who the interloper was. There, illuminated by her own inner glow and excitement, stood Botan, the detectives' manager. She smiled her cute little innocent smile at them and pulled her hands into the giant sleeves of her blue kimono.

"Hello boys!"

The stunned young men stared at the girl for a about six seconds before. . .

"Botan, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"What the hell is going on?!"

"You have some nerve sending us into this strange culture without an explanation, Botan."

"You will feel my hand ripping out your heart soon if I don't have my sword returned to me immediately, woman!"

"Woah! Woah, guys!" the blue-haired girl motioned, backing away from the on slot of anger as the boys charged down the long staircase at her. "Please, wait a second before you decided to rip me to pieces! Koenma and I have reasons for everything that we do, so calm down and let me explain!"

"Start moving those lips, girl, before we make you guide yourself down the River Styx," Yusuke warned, his face red with anger. The four boys stood three steps above Botan, who was now cowering under their looming glares. Even Hiei seemed so tall and menacing, standing over her with his arm twitching to where his katana should have been hanging.

"Okay, okay, I'll explain soon, but not RIGHT now." Kuwabara glared at her, his homely face screwed up into a more unflattering look.

"Yeah, we know," Yusuke surprisingly agreed. "Not with them here."

"What?" Kuwabara was totally out of the loop. Yusuke, Botan, Hiei, and Kurama, however, all turned their heads knowingly towards a large rock some yards to the left of the group.

"You've been discovered. You can unveil yourselves honorably now," Kurama directed to the air around the spot. Suddenly, three confused and almost scared British kids materialized by the rock.

---------------------------

Millions of thoughts were swarming the poor clueless kids' minds. How did they know that they were there? Only highly talented wizards and witches (and magically enhanced fake eyeballs) can see through Invisibility Cloaks. The possibilities and uncertainties about these newcomers frightened Harry, Ron and Hermione, which is saying something, as they all had fought and beaten some of the nastiest things found in the wizarding world. They huddled together, Ron and Hermione semi hiding behind their bolder friend Harry, as he clutched the silvery cloak in his hands.

"Oh my gawd!" Botan squealed, breaking the tense silence between the groups. "That is the CUTEST outfit I have EVER SEEN!" The giddy grim-reaper shuffled to the scared and surprised Hermione and just swelled with excitement. "You have to let me try on one of your uniforms! I just LOVE those socks! Oh my gawd!"

"Err, sure," Hermione said, standing up from behind Harry. She nervously shuffled her feet under the glowing gaze of the hyper stranger.

"Damnit, Botan, you came here to help us out, not to get new clothes!" Yusuke snapped, marching over to them with his hands curled into frustrated fists.

"Alright, but . . ." All five sets of Japanese eyes turned to the frightened British kids, who flinched and took a step backwards.

"Beat it, mortals," Hiei growled threatingly, even though he had to look UP at the three cornered kids. Harry and Ron were perfectly okay with backing up and running, full speed, to anywhere farther away from these odd newcomers, but Hermione stopped them before they could.

"Wait! I think that we deserve something of an explanation ourselves! If you guys are gonna stay in our castle and, in Yusuke's case, our bedrooms, we think you should start acting like our classmates, like, you know. . ." Everyone was staring at the frizzy haired girl, her friends with something of a look of horror at her brashness. ". . .like what Professor Dumbledore said."

For a few moments, they all continued to stare, and Hermione began to fear the worst. Perhaps Japanese students were like Hippogriffs, which you have to let them tell you what to do and which you really don't want to upset.

"She's right," Kurama sighed with a smile. He turned his brilliant green eyes to the witty girl, who although terrified, seemed to melt like chocolate. "We should at least tell them why we are here."

"Which is something that we would ALL LIKE TO KNOW!!!" Yusuke burst, totally pissed off with frustration now. They all turned towards Botan, half of them merely curious, the other half deadly upset.

----------------------------------------

After deciding to relocate to a place where absolutely no one else could overhear their conversation, the large group now gathered in a small cove a minute's walk into the Forbidden Forest. Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who had been the ones to suggest the opening in the trees as the meeting place, sat together under the same large crooked tree holding their wands in front of them with the Lumos charm illuminated their anxious faces. Yusuke stood, leaning nonchalantly against the trunk of a large oak. Kuwabara stood in the middle of the circle purposefully not looking past the nearest tree into the dark forest while. Hiei decided to perch himself as the look out one of the highest branches, but instead of surveying the perimeter, he was watching his friend Kurama on the ground as he studied the plants growing on the forest floor. Botan stood at the edge of the circle of trees, nervously watching the dark shadows.

"Oh, he should be here by now!" she whispered with worry shaking her usually bubbly voice. "He said he'd be right behind me!"

"Who are you waiting on, Miss Botan?" Harry boldly questioned, somewhat uncomfortable using her first name when they had just met, but for all he knew, she too didn't have a last name.

"My boss," she whispered without looking away.

"Koenma," Yusuke explained, seeing the curiously lost look on Harry's face. "He's our group's employer, and the stupid pacifier face is always late. You should be used to it by now, Botan."

"HEY! I am NOT always late!" came a voice beyond the trees that seemed to echo from all angles. Suddenly, a tall, brown-haired young man appeared by Botan's side. He was a fairly good looking Asian boy, Hermione noted, except for the baby toy sticking out of his mouth.

"And I resent that pass at my pacie, punk!"

"Welcome to England, Koenma" Kurama said, standing up with a bushel of odd flowers in his hand. "Now please, tell us why we are all here."

The young ruler of the otherworld cleared his throat, and everyone except Botan leaned in with anticipation. She, on the other hand, looked like she was getting ready to blot it at the slightest movement.

"You have been sent here because. . ." he started, his eyes shut with a matter-of-fact look.

"Yeah?"

"Because a mortal discovered an odd mystic object a few weeks back," he continued explaining. "After destroying herself and about fifty other people around her, we decided it was filled with evil spirit powers and needed to be confiscated. My ogres tried their hardest to find something about it in our library, but no such luck." He paused briefly to pull the object out of his robes. It looked like a twisted old stick to the rest of them. "This is it. The only lead we had was that they seemed to be used in old England, more specifically, this school."

"So what do we have to do with this?" Hiei asked, suddenly appearing on a lower branch of the tree.

"Well," the boy continued with a giant smile behind his blue pacifier, "I think its really cool, but I don't know how to use it! I want you guys to figure out how to use it and then teach me!"

"What?!"

"I'll be the most feared ruler in all the galaxies once I master this strange, powerful thing! Wahahaha!" With his eyes scrunched in laughter, he waved the object randomly in the air, overcome with zeal. Hot blue sparks shot wildly from the tip of the stick, showering the cove. Hiei, Kurama, and Yusuke merely dodged the attack gracefully, but Kuwabara, Harry, Hermione, and Ron yelled under the heat of the embers and hurried to put out each glowing spark that had landed on their clothes and hair.

"Oi! You shouldn't play around with a wand like that when you don't know how to use it, man!" Ron snapped, cursing the ignorant foreigner as he patted a small burning hole in his robe.

Not noticing the three British kids before now, Koenma started suddenly.

"Who are you?"

"We are students at this school, sir," Hermione answered first, of course. Koenma eyed the disheveled kids before spying the glowing sticks they each held in their hands.

"How did you get those? Who would let young children weld such powerfully evil weapons like those?"

Harry and Ron exchanged looks. "They're ours," Harry responded, annoyed. "We got them when we were eleven. And they're not dangerous if you know how to use them!"

Koenma seemed doubtful of the strange kids and stepped back from them slowly. Kurama laughed as he saw the powerful prince of the otherworld do this.

"Koenma-sama, they are telling the truth. We have seen them use them before. That's how they learned Japanese." He glided over to his boss and plucked the item from his hands before the other boy could react. "I believe you just need to say an incantation to get it to do certain things. Lets see," he held the stick up to study the point of it. "what did they say? Lumos!" the wand burst with light for half a second before settling down to a low glow, significantly dimmer than Harry, Ron, and Hermione's.

Kuwabara openly laughed at the fox spirit. "Look at that! Awesome powers you've got there, Kurama! My night light is brighter than that!" Suddenly he turned white.

"You have a night light?!" everyone burst into hysterical laughter, except Kuwabara of course, who tried to take back what he said, but definitely was unable to.

-----------------------------------------------


	5. Life As a Hogwarts Student

Chapter 5: Life As a Hogwarts Student

-----------------------------------------------

The next few days proved very difficult and interesting to each of the groups of kids. Yusuke and his friends were finding it increasingly frustrating trying to navigate the castle, but each of them had been assigned kids from their own houses and years to lead them around. As expected, Hermione was chosen to guide Yusuke around, and sometimes they were joined by Neville, who took the opportunity to act like he wanted to get to know the exchange student better, but they all knew that he was just lost.

Kuwabara's partner was a tubby boy they all called Ernie. Kuwabara seemed to get along well with Ernie and his friends, as Yusuke spotted them across the Great Hall several times laughing loudly about stupid things.

Hiei however, had decided to find his own way about the castle, which seemed to work as he was always in class on time, though no one EVER saw him walking the halls.

Kurama, though, really didn't have a single guide, but actually a mob of giggling girls, some of which weren't even in the same house or year. This made getting to classes for him harder than it should have. --

After a few days of classes, which the exchange students merely watched and took notes in, they were each approached by a teacher giving them messages to meet to receive wands.

They were to meet at Professor Dumbledore's office…five minutes ago. But Yusuke's guides had been held after in Potions and the four of them were now racing down the crowded hallways together.

"Just like Snape to find the worst time to keep us after!" Ron snorted, heaving his bag over his shoulder as they ran.

"You didn't even do anything! That prissy-man teacher is just out to get you," Yusuke commented, trotting beside him.

"Yeah, we're used to it, though," Hermione agreed, between heavy breaths. "Here we are, Dumbledore's office . . .though we don't know the password. . ." They stopped in front of a giant statue of a creature Yusuke had never seen before. He was about to ask what it was when it began spinning and a spiral staircase was revealed.

"Well, I guess that's your cue, Uremeshi. Hope you get a strong wand!" With that, Harry and Ron nudged him onto the bottom stair, which began moving upwards like an escalator. Three seconds later, the stairs were stopping at an old door, which he opened without knocking.

"Ah, there you are, Yusuke!" the old wizard smiled, standing with the other three Japanese boys. Yusuke couldn't help but stare at all the oddities in this room: the moving paintings covering every inch of the walls, the thin, string-less mobiles floating overhead, the bright orange bird sleeping in the corner, the gnarled old. . . "Now we don't have much time to talk or gawk, so take a pinch of this. . ." the wizened wizard said, putting a bag of powder under Yusuke's nose and, with his eyebrow raised, he took a pinch. ". . . and follow my lead." He stepped over to the giant fireplace blazing with orange flames. Throwing some of the powder into the fire, it suddenly flared green, and to Yusuke's great surprise, the old man gathered his robes and stepped into the fire.

"Olivander's!" he projected from the neon green flames, and suddenly, he was gone.

Yusuke was aghast.

"Well, if you boys don't mind . . ." Kurama said. The other boys just shook their heads, so he threw his pinch into the now regular fire, and it flared green again. Yusuke watched open mouthed as his teammate calmly stepped into the blaze.

----------------------------------------

>really long story, i know, but i DO have a plan . . . 


	6. Lessons

* * *

Chapter 6: WTF, seriously?

* * *

After sprinting the halls to Dumbledore's office, the three friends were very much out of breath, but they had no time to gather it. Off to dinner to eat as fast as humanly possible, then to the common room to finish the homework assignment from hell.

Three hours into the assignment, the sun was slowly creeping behind the trees, and they weren't even close to being finished.

"Seriously, that prick must run out of pointless essays for us to write sometime. Hermione, have you found out what the hell a "Linkese" is yet?" Ron questioned, slouching so far down in his armchair, his butt was hanging off in mid-air.

Hermione tossed the amazingly tall book aside. "No, and I've looked everywhere. I think he may have just made that one up."

Harry looked up from his book, realizing that it too was useless and put it on top of the huge pile they had checked out from the library. He sat back, looking into the flames.

"I wonder when Yusuke will be back," he mumbled, thinking out loud.

"OH!" Hermione squealed suddenly, "I forgot to tell you, I went to the library on my own today . . ."

"When? There was no time that you could have . . ."

". . . and I found a book on the differences and similarities between magic from other countries. It mentioned how basic and instinctual the spells of Japan are. I think that . . ."

But whatever she thought didn't matter, because suddenly, the fireplace blazed bright green and grew about four feet higher. Hermione yelped and Ron cursed as a soot-covered Yusuke stepped out of the flames coughing and cursing. And in his hand was a wand.

"What?" he asked, patting soot off of his school robes while the three British kids watched with open mouths. "You look like you've never seen anyone jump out of green flames before."

"Yeah, well, the common room fireplaces aren't part of the Floo network," Harry protested.

"Tell that to old long beard," Yusuke retorted twirling his wand in his fingers. "So, looks like I've been hooked up with a magic stick. Mind showing me how to work it?"

* * *

Another two hours later, neither Harry, Ron or Hermione were any closer to being done with the report, but none cared. With the common room all to themselves, they were having quite the time tutoring the exchange student in the most basic, first-year spells. As funny as it was to watch the frustrated boy fling random objects across the room with a simple levitation charm, they had to agree that Yusuke was rather good, though most of his spells had more force and less control than normal. But by the end of the night, Yusuke was able to do a few useful spells and they would have gone for longer, but he insisted he needed to sleep.

Lying on his four-poster bed, the black haired Japanese boy stared at the ceiling, smugly thinking about the looks on his friends' faces when he shows them all the spells he already learned.

He rolled over lazily, glancing at the sleeping Harry a few feet away.

"These dorks aren't so bad," Yusuke thought. "And this place is kinda growing on me too." Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched wail from down on the grounds outside. Totally not willing to get out of the warm, comfy bed, he pulled the covers up to his chin and closed his eyes.

"I hope that was a normal thing . . .for this place, at least."

* * *

The next morning, Yusuke found himself standing red-eyed and sleepy in greenhouse number two with the rest of his house year and the Hufflepuffs. But before he could nod off for a few winks, Kuwabara elbowed him in the side.

"Hey, Urameshi, wake up! We've got our wands now, we have to pay attention!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever . . ." he waved at his teammate, closing his eyes again.

"I'm afraid he's right, Mister Urame-she," Madame Sprout scolded, waving the purple roots she held at him. "You boys may be new, but you must pay attention if you have any hopes of catching up!" She turned to the rest of the class, "Now this is a . . . " and Yusuke immediately tuned her out and stared out the glass to the castle beyond.

In another hour, the class made its way up the hill, heading back to the castle for Transfiguration. On the way, however, as Yusuke and Kuwabara were slowly trudging behind the rest of the group, they past a distracted looking Karama completely surrounded by giggling groupies.

"Hey, prissy!" Yusuke hollered about twenty feet away from his friend. Realizing that he was yelling at their idol, Kurama's fan club turned on Yusuke with blazing eyes, but said nothing about it as their prince parted their security circle and waved to his "friend." Watching him cross the green field, Yusuke noticed that Kurama had pulled his robes behind his back and tied them with a ribbon so that his pink and yellow uniform he wore underneath stuck out from the rest of the closed black robes.

"Good morning to you too, Yusuke," he greeted the boys.

"You look a little out of it, Kurama. You have a late night visitor last night?" Yusuke teased. "Maybe one of your fan club groupies?"

"Thankfully, no. Night is about the only time they let me alone," he sighed looking back at the gaggle of girls, which quivered at his very glance. "Which is how I managed to get some practice with this wand last night."

"You lie!" Kuwabara protested.

"I taught myself a few useful tricks," the kitsune smiled. "Like this little trick: _Reparo_!" he demanded, pointing his 13 inch wand at a rip in the shoulder of Kuwabara's robes. It instantly sewed itself back together. (Kuwabara: Hey, I liked that tear! It made me look tough!)

"Well, that one's cool, but lets see if you can master this spell I got in. . ." but Yusuke was cut off by a shrill cry from inside the depth of the black trees across the grounds.

* * *

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just reached the base of the castle stairs, the very air electrified with the sharp sound from the Forbidden Forest. They spun around to see the forest's birds jumping into the air, as startled as they were to hear the scream. Every student stopped to stare at the forest: the Griffindors halfway inside the castle, the Hufflepuffs right behind them, and the Ravenclaws closest to the forest as they headed to Care of Magical Creatures.

"What the bloody hell was that!" Ron cursed, his eyes flying about the forest edge.

"I don't know but . . ."

"I have a bad feeling . . . "

"There! LOOK!" Ron yelled, pointing a little to the right to the forest at the bottom of the hill. Up the green grass, running at an amazing speed was a creature none of the unusually experienced friends recognized. It was a very wide creature running on four legs, its long stringy hair flying behind it. As it headed. Straight. For. Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara.

"YUSUKE! MOVE!" Harry screamed, but the boys had seen it coming too. They easily dodged the attack. As most of the young witches and wizards decided to merely scream, panic, and run, Harry, Ron and Hermione watched with fear from the top of the stairs as the creature swiftly u-turned and headed full speed back at the boys.

"USE THE STUPIFY CURSE!" Ron suggested, seeing Yusuke's arm twitch towards his wand. But the creature had reached them again and in a moment of black blurs, the three Japanese boys landed safely as the attacker missed again.

"SCREW THAT, RON!" they heard their friend yell back, not taking his eyes off his enemy. "I'M TAKING THIS THING DOWN THE OLD FASHIONED WAY! SPIRIT GUN!"

It was hard for Hermione to believe her eyes. She had read about ancient spells used without a wand in desperate moments that were said to have immensely destructive powers, but she had never seen a move like that. They all watched open mouthed, as their classmates scrambled up the stairs around them. Their new friend stood to face the approaching predator with his hands straight out, as if he hand a gun and meant to shoot it. But what went zipping through the air was not a normal bullet, but a large, round, glowing orb of . . . pure energy? She had heard of such things, but hadn't truly believed in the theories. Oh, but now . . . she could tell that she was going to be doing a lot more research.

* * *

Yusuke stood looking at the spot where the creature had last been. There was merely a scorched patch of grass there now.

"Guys, what was that?" Kuwabara asked stepping forward a bit with his hands in his pockets again.

"Whatever it was, its gone now," Yusuke smiled, fully happy with himself.

"Its nature doesn't matter to me, but its propose." Kurama said. "Why did it suddenly appear, and why did it target only us?"

* * *


	7. The Challenge and The Challenger

* * *

Chapter 7: The Challenge and the Challenger

* * *

"That was awesome!"

"But did you see what it was?"

"He didn't even use a wand!"

"It shot out of his finger!"

"What was it, do you know?"

"They didn't even look scared!"

"What was that thing!"

* * *

After lunch, Yusuke had already had enough of Hogwarts' hoopla about the creature. Random students were following him around, as if he were going to spontaneously start a fireworks show. And Yusuke wasn't the only one. Kurama's fan club doubled, at least, with quite a few boys asking about how to join too. Of course, Kurama kept his cool smile, even as his chaperone squad grew to the entire width of the halls.

Kuwabara, on the other hand, was loving it. His new friends Ernie and Hannah had become something of his secretaries, introducing Kuwabara to all of his visitors and interviewers. He gladly told anyone who would listen about life in Japan and his special talents . . . of course, he left out quite a few interesting details. . .

No one was brave enough to approach Hiei, who looked surlier than ever.

And that left Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the background.

"You know," Harry said, leaning back in his chair as he glanced at Yusuke explaining something to Dean and Seamus, "it's kinda nice, not having everyone's eyes on us for once."

"Maybe we'll get caught up on homework finally!" Ron put in, dropping _Potions, Level Six_ on his desk and closing it with a smack!

"Don't think so, Ron," Hermione said. "We really need to do some more research, you know."

"I know, I know. But seriously, why don't we just ASK THEM ourselves!"

"Because Harry thinks that they aren't being truthful to us."

Harry whipped his head around and glared at Hermione. "No," he forced with clenched teeth, "Because Harry KNOWS that they are hiding something!"

"Yes, that's what I meant."

"Right! Whatever! (Sounds more like mild paranoia to me.)"

"Whadya say, Ron?"

"Nothin' man!"

"No, whad you say?"

Fortunately for Ron, he didn't have to answer, because at that moment, Snape slammed open the door to the dungeon and rushed to the front with that haughty look of his pasted forever on his face.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he snapped, turning suddenly on the students. "Pass up your essays! You don't need individual memorandums, do you?"

Flabbergasted, yet used to this sort of treatment, the classes hurriedly turned in their assignment scrolls.

"And you three," he added, glaring down at the friends, "better have your bonus essays finished as well."

"We're getting bonus points for these?" Ron whispered hopefully.

"Added on to your existing grades, it won't be much help, I'm afraid." Though Snape couldn't have looked less afraid of anything.

* * *

Across the room, Hiei sat amongst the Slitherins, casually watching the British kids being bullied by their teacher. What was the professor's name again? He couldn't remember. Then again, what were those dorky kids' names? It really didn't matter. All the mission called for was to learn how to use this dumb stick; making friends and being polite wasn't mandatory. And neither is this class, he thought. I know all the potion making that will ever be of use to me. He sighed with irritation.

* * *

Snape looked up from tormenting Harry to see who dared to sigh _with_ _irritation_ in his class, while he was doing something so important! He spotted the boy among the green side of the room. Snape glared at how annoyed the pointy haired boy looked.

"Is there something you would like to say, Mr. . ." he demanded, the contempt almost oozing off of his words.

Hiei looked up at the greasy human. He was already testy, and firmly decided he wasn't going to put up with any kind of crap.

"My name is Hiei." The entire room seemed to suck in one giant bubble of air . . . except Yusuke, who merely smirked.

Snape was infuriated. "MISTER Hiei, you will address me as Professor when you speak," he demanded, giving the exchange student a pointed glare.

Much to the astonishment of the other students, Hiei glared right back. "I said my name is Hiei. Do not attempt to add me to your species with your dishonorable titles."

What?

then, HOW DARE HE!

"Mister Hiei," Snape said coolly, though his nostrils flared with anger, "You have been catching up so nicely in my class, which, I am glad to say, is rather difficult. It would be a shame to have to suspend such a student for a misdemeanor like back-talking."

"Don't waste your energy, human," Hiei said, gracefully rising from his chair and walking towards the door before Snape cold even reply. "This joke of a school isn't even worth my time."

"One moment," Snape called, striding towards the short demon. The class seemed to all shuffle away from the point of contact as the professor caught hold of Hiei's sleeve. (No one but Yusuke realized that Hiei had let him grab him.) "Are you saying," Snape continued, looking down at the haughty-eyed boy, whose pointed hair barely reached the man's chest, "that you think yourself above our standards."

Hiei smiled, shrugging the man off his arm. "Way above, human."

"Well, then, why don't we test your theory, Mr. Hiei? Say you against my best student?"

"It would be my pleasure to see his ashes on the floor." His hand twitched slightly towards his waist.

"Hiei! You moron!"

"Ten points from Gryffindor!" Snape spat, not even looking at Yusuke. The deadly glares exchanged between Hiei and Snape could have killed a small animal. "Now, take your time to brush up on the dueling rules. We meet two hours after classes in the Great Hall."

* * *

"Baka!" Yusuke snapped, grabbing the jaganshi by the shoulder and turning him sharply around. "You just had to find a reason to show off your stuff! This is just great! We could be totally found out you know?"

Class had just ended, surprisingly without anymore commotion. Hiei had left early and was found a few seconds ago lounging languidly on the head of the life-sized statue of Werg, The Biggest Goblin Ever. He had jumped down when Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke had called to him while the other students glanced nervously at them as they hurried to their next class. Now, he faced the onslaught of seriously pissed off teammates.

"How is that any concern of mine?"

"You know that if you kill this kid, you're gonna be sent back to demon world, Hiei." Kuwabara put in.

"I'm not going to kill him . . ." he paused, smiling into the distance. ". . . just hurt him a lot."

"I must say that I disapprove, Hiei," Kurama said, with a mildly disappointed look. "I thought you were better than to battle those so much weaker than you." Hiei's shoulders did a little twitch.

"Who cares what you disapprove of, flower-boy." HE cared, of course, but wasn't about to let anyone know that Kurama, over the years, had become his closest companion.

"Well, you're gonna fight in two hours, whether or not it's a good idea. What are these stupid dueling rules anyway?" Kuwabara wondered, stuffing his hands in his pockets again.

"Er, we can help you with that, if you want."

"Yeah, just like old times, eh, Harry?"

The four Japanese boys looked around to see the only other kids left in the hall. Holding at least three large tomes each, the three British friends looked quite disheveled, but slightly peppy at the same time.

"Are you sure you can spare the time? You look rather busy," Kurama commented, walking up to Hermione. "Let me help you with those, Miss Granger."

Hermione's face had never burned so red. "Please, it's Hermione."

Ron shuffled the weight of his books with a 'humph' as the red haired boy took Hermione's load. Harry and Yusuke just rolled their eyes before continuing to ignore the courting couple.

"So, anyway, we can help, if you need. I know personally how anxious your first duel can be." Hiei's eyes squeezed into a harsh glare.

"I don't need nor want your help, wizard." he 'humph'ed, putting his hands in his pockets too.

"Its no problem, really," Hermione said, still blushing furiously.

"Yeah, it's the least we can do. Snape probably thought that you were trying to side with us for some reason." Harry suggested, hoisting his books higher in his arms.

"Whatever," Hiei said, and walked off.

* * *

Two hours later, Hiei was just about as prepared for the duel as Harry was for his first . . . which wasn't very prepared. He had gotten down two basic jinxes, the stunning spell, and a simple blocking spell.

The thing that worried his the most, however, was being confined to just using the wand. He actually found himself regretting his promise to turn his opponent into ashes.

But there was no honor in retreat.

* * *

The entire Great Hall was filled with students, crowded around a long platform. At the far end of the Hall, the teachers' table still stood where it had been during dinner and almost all of its occupants where present. Snape however, stood alone on one side of the platform.

Exactly four minutes late, the challenger appeared in the doorway, his robes replaced by his normal black outfit.

The room fell silent. "Remember the wand movements we practiced," Harry whispered to his left, breaking the wall of anxiety.

"Shut up, boy," Hiei snapped and bent his knees as if to jump.

"Hiei, don't . . ."

"You too, kitsune."

And his simply disappeared in a blur of black.

Many people gasped as the short boy appeared again on the opposite end of the dueling arena than Snape. Unmoved, the older man smiled evilly.

"You're late, Mr. Hiei. Now, for your opponent," he said, glancing down at the crowd of students. But before he could point out the silver haired boy he was looking for, he noticed movement at the staff table.

Dumbledore had risen out of his seat. "Just a moment Severus," the old man said, raising his hand to silence the students' murmurs. "I approved of this activity before it had occurred to me the danger of the situation." He smiled. "We must have a fair fight for the opponent and a good fight for our challenger. Do you agree, Hiei-san?"

Across the room, the young demon nodded at Dumbledore.

"Good. Then I'll release the Battle Finder."

Appearing in his hand, Dumbledore grasped a creamy green ball, about the size of a tennis ball. His fingers released and it hovered over his palm for a minute before zooming across the room. It zigzagged back and forth, stopping for a millisecond over random students, most flinched as it paused over their heads. After about a minute of tense suspense of the students, the ball stopped suddenly over the head of a young boy. It quivered slightly before changing to a deep red. Of course, the entire room gasped.

* * *

Harry looked up at the hovering ball above his head.

Damnit.

The blood red ball dropped into his hands. He glared at it. Then looked slowly up at Dumbledore, clear across the long Hall. Following his gaze, all heads turned towards the headmaster.

"Se la vie, Mister Potter. Please approach the dueling area."

* * *


	8. ‘Endo Ectomi Dermatos’

* * *

Chapter 8: 'Endo Ectomi Dermatos'

* * *

Harry was pissed. The sea of black robed students parted as he headed towards the other end of the platform, an almost visible cloud of despair over his head.

WHY ME? He thought furiously. It was going so good! Nothing too bad had happened, then that creature this morning, and now I'm going to duel the guy I was just tutoring! If he pulls any of that Spirit Gun shit on me, I'll be really pissed off!

Reaching the platform, he reluctantly climbed the small steps. Once on the platform, he saw a small iron fence materialize around the area, which seemed to stifle most of the sound from the crowd. Glancing back, Harry also noted that the crowd LOOKED like it was behind a curtain. Shrugging it off as a spell to separate the duelist from the spectators, he faced the smiling Japanese boy.

"Well, that was unexpected." Hiei smiled, the room now completely silent.

"Not really," Harry sighed, reaching for his wand. "So, let's get this over with."

"Oh, come on," Hiei smiled wider, pulling his own wand from his sash. "The old man's right. I want to have a little fun with this one. And something tells me you can take a good beating." The small jaganshi addressed the headmaster. "Let it be known, referee, that Urimeshi will be my replacement."

Dumbledore nodded and turned pointedly to Harry.

"Er . . ." he said, thinking that the foreigner must mean his 'second'. ". . . Ron's mine then."

The old headmaster nodded again. "Duelists, face your opponents. Bow to each other. Wands at ready. And remember, boys, the nature of this duel is unusual. Some rules will be bent. Begin!"

(Let us just assume, before we begin the duels, that the crowd will gasp, cheer and panic as necessary during the action. But, still . . .)

The crowd gasped as Hiei met Harry's first strike with a quick block spell. He returned with a random jinx he learned merely a half hour ago. Harry blocked it easily. For about five minutes, the simple pattern of jinxing and blocking, jinxing, blocking, jinx, block continued. Though the crowd seemed pleased, the fighters were tiring of it fast.

"This is child's play, human," Hiei insisted, throwing another jinx toward his former sensei.

Harry caught it again, and flung his own curse across the room, saying, "Make your move then, Hiei."

Giving Harry his infamous grin, Hiei's bright red eyes flashed with excitement. After blocking the curse he flipped the wand around, holding it kind of like a sword, Harry thought. The confused boy just watched patiently as his opponent closed his eyes and began to chant quietly to himself.

Now, when the floor around Hiei's feet began to glow and send bright strands of light spinning around the short boy, Harry merely cocked his head in confusion. And when Hiei's wand began to warp, it too glowing bright white, Harry just dropped his jaw in amazement. But when a red glow started burning through Hiei's headband, in the shape of what seemed to be an EYE, Harry took a full step backwards and was on the edge of running before it was all over.

His spiky black hair fell back over his red eyes, his forehead now completely back to normal. But in his hands, where his wand used to be, was a long silver katana.

Harry was amazed; Hiei just smiled again.

"These sticks, or wands, of yours are actually very powerful. It even had power enough to break dimensions to retrieve my katana in Spirit World." He shifted his footing, posed to fight.

"What!" Harry picked his jaw up and swallowed, moving his own feet back into position. "Okay, whatever. Let's have some fun then."

In a flash, Hiei had disappeared (to the eyes of the untrained . . .). His black figure reappeared for a millisecond, the shining katana two inches from Harry's nose. But Harry had his wand up, blocking the attack. Whipping his wand down, the magical prodigy flung his opponent backwards full force.

Landing on his feet, Hiei smiled at Harry, who smiled back. 'Yes,' he thought, 'this is going to be very fun.'

* * *

After fighting their way through the crowd, (not really. All Kurama had to do was tap the nearest girl on the shoulder, smile at her and ask if they could pass through, and suddenly all the girls in the area took it upon themselves personally to see that Kurama and his friends got a front-row seat to the battle right against the small iron fence) Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, Ron and Hermione stood looking up at their dueling friends.

"Bloody Hell! This is intense!" Ron was bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet. "I can barely keep up with them!"

To his left, Yusuke snickered. "Don't watch their moves, Ron, then you can see the fight better."

"What?" Both Ron and Hermione gave Yusuke a confused look. Kurama to the rescue.

"Focus on their energy and you will follow them better," the smiling redhead suggested, walking behind Hermione and putting both hands on her shoulders. (Every girl around them gasped and scoffed, completely forgetting the amazing battle before them . . . they had their own battle to fight now . . .) "Here," the flirty kitsune whispered, leaning into the blushing girl's ear. "Just close your eyes and think intently on your friend Harry. You know what his energy feels like; focus only on that feeling, and you will 'see' his every move."

Her eyes shut tight, Hermione was defiantly NOT thinking about Harry . . . how could she, with that rose tinted red-haired, emerald green-eyed beauty breathing softly in her ear. If Kurama hadn't let go at that very moment, she would have melted like chocolate right there on the floor.

"Is it working for you, Miss Ganger?"

"Ah . . . yeah," she lied. Kurama just smiled his great smile.

"Good."

* * *

Ron was visibly steaming from the ears, about ready to rip that prissy-boy Kurama's head off his dainty little body.

But, a few minutes later, after his immense jealousy died down, he tried what the stupid flirt had suggested . . . and it did work quite well . . . damn him.

* * *

Harry landed gracefully after catching a swing from Hiei's wild katana in midair. He was sweating now, and a little short of breath. Though he was holding his own quite strongly against the powerful jaganshi, Harry was getting tired. And he knew that Hiei was about to get bored.

"I'm getting bored, human," Hiei complained, standing fiercely on the opposite side of the platform.

Harry huffed, exasperated. "Well, alright. But you really picked the wrong student to get bored with." Harry straightened his shoulders. "I was saving this one for someone very special, but you should be a good person to try it out on." Harry suddenly crouched down, holding his wand now like a dagger. In a blur, the scrawny boy lunged forward, shouting, "ENDO ECTOMI DERMATOS !"

* * *

Hiei was, surprisingly, surprised. And caught off guard, Harry's attack hit him full on.

In a blur of black robes and a horribly sinister purple streak, Hiei felt something brush sharply into his left shoulder. But after Harry landed smoothly behind him, the short demon felt nothing but relief that he was still alive. Disbelieving, he turned around, seeing Harry still down on one knee where he had landed.

"Your magic has failed you, boy," Hiei laughed, reaching up to touch where he had felt the attack. But as his fingers met his shoulder, a sharp, searing pain electrified the left side of his body. Hiei grimaced with pain and landed on his knees.

* * *

Along with the rest of the crowd, Hermione and Ron gasped as Harry landed on the platform. They could not believe their eyes.

"Merlin, that was crazy!" Ron stared, his eyes wide open. "Did it work? What's happening?"

"But, Harry was practicing that for . . ." Hermione trailed off, biting her lip.

The three Japanese boys also watched anxiously, intently staring at their comrade who turned around, seemingly unharmed to say something to Harry.

"Well, the little swirt was caught off guard, " Kuwabara smirked with his hands in his pockets (can you tell that I like it when they have their hands in their pockets? Cuz I do . . .).

Yusuke shifted his weight uneasily. "Yeah," he agreed, "a little too off guard. What do you think that spell did to him? He looks fine . . ."

Suddenly, their friend fell to his knees with a look of pure pain.

"Hiei!"

* * *

Harry turned around, hooking his wand back into his belt. "I'm sorry, Hiei, but something told me that you could take it." He rubbed his right arm, slowly walking towards his fallen opponent. Though he knew Hiei to be an honorable person, he didn't know just how mad that attack had made him. But before Harry could reach him, the boy stood slowly on his feet.

"Wizard!" Hiei huffed, rolling his shoulder back and forth. "You think I'll be taken down just by that!"

Completely taken aback, Harry stood frozen in the middle of the platform. He watched, almost frightened, as the red-eyed boy glared at him, firmly stabbing his katana into the dueling platform with his right arm.

"I'd consider running, if I were you, human."

Glaring determinedly, Hiei ripped his own shirt off, (had to ) tossing it uselessly to the side and began slowly unwrapping the bandages on each of his forearms. Through the silencing spell, he heard the great gasp from the crowd as the identical black dragon scars where revealed. He smiled before removing the white headband covering the jagan.

Harry nearly crapped his pants.

HE HAS A THIRD EYE ON HIS FOREHEAD! AND. ITS. GLOWING.

But he had little time to react.

Hiei closed his normal eyes, his jagan glowing bright red. Balling his hands into fists, he focused almost all of his energy into this attack. And as his hands began to burn with a yellow flame of power, he called out the name of his attack.

"FIST OF THE MORTAL FLAME !"

* * *

Hermione watched the black dragon-shaped attack hit Harry square on from behind her fingers. She felt like crying.

Ron's heart was pounding in his throat. He felt like vomiting, but kept his eyes on the dust-spewing hole in the wall that Harry's limp body had made as the powerful attack hit him. 'Get up, Harry!' Ron thought furiously. 'Just get up!' He couldn't take it. Pushing over a bunch of other students, he started fighting his way across the room. But Yusuke grabbed him by the arm.

"Chotto matte, Ron," the black haired boy ordered, holding the struggling Ron firmly in place.

"Whatever you just said, I don't care!" he snapped, not looking away from where Harry landed. "Let go, now! HARRY!"

"Don't underestimate your own friend, Ron!" Kurama said, touching him lightly on the shoulder. Ron immediately glared at Kurama's hand with a 'how-dare-you-even-TOUCH-me!' look on his face.

"Look," Yusuke insisted, tugging on Ron's robe.

* * *

Coughing dust and dirt out of his lungs, Harry stumbled onto the floor. He waved the dust away from his face and joined the crowd in a gasp as they all looked back at the gi-normous hole he had made in the wall.

"HARRY! Bloody hell!" he heard from across the room. Looking up, Harry waved painfully at Ron, who looked at him unbelieving, yet relieved.

But Harry didn't have time to reassure his friends that he was well . . . because he wasn't. He couldn't help but hold his stomach as it pounded with pain. And when he tried to walk, his right knee nearly gave out underneath him. But he was determined. As hurt as he was, Harry limped slowly back onto the platform where Hiei stood waiting for him.

Slightly surprised, Hiei watched the young British boy climb back onto the stage. For a few minutes there, Hiei was afraid that he had KILLED the boy. As much as he wanted to win, that scenario would have ended VERY badly. But the boy was alive . . . and still wanting a fight. Such determination. Hiei would have to end this soon, for both of their sakes. He yanked his katana out of the floor with a humph.

"Lets end this," Hiei demanded, raising his sword for an attack, but giving Harry time to pull out his own weapon again.

"Good idea," Harry agreed, giving Hiei a half smile, half grimace. "That really hurt, ya know."

"That was the point."

And simultaneously, the two boys lunged toward each other. In a moment of black and purple blurs, the dueling platform was clouded in dust and smoke. The room watched closely, but could see nothing in the confusion. All that was heard where two pairs of feet landing back down on the stage.

When the dust cleared a moment later, Harry and Hiei stood how they had landed at either end of the platform. As the room gasped, both boys fell to their knees, Harry holding his stomach, and Hiei grimacing over an unseen wound.

"Sorry," Harry whispered, standing painfully on his feet.

Suddenly, Hiei's shoulders ripped open; two streaks of crimson blood spurted from the wounds. He held them in pain as his vision blurred, coming close to passing out. But he would not accept this end. He attempted to stand, blood running down his bare chest, but merely fell forward . . . into darkness.

"HIEI !"

* * *

Kurama vaulted the fence and was at Hiei's side in three seconds flat. Yusuke and Ron glanced at each other for a second before jumping the fence themselves and running to their friends with Hermione and Kuwabara right behind them.

As Ron and Hermione reached him, Harry let himself fall into their relieved hugs. His legs were going to give out and he really just wanted to lay down right there on the stage, but his friends held him upright as the crowd burst into applause. Harry smiled weakly.

"Very good, boys! Well fought!" Dumbledore held his hand up as the applause subsided. "That was very interesting and entertaining! But, I'm sure that each of the competitors needs to visit the infirmary. Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, would you please escort these boys? Thank you."

The called professors both rose from their chairs, and Harry was glad to hear where they were going. He really needed a nap. Sleeeeeeeeep . . .

"Oh, and due to the danger to the castle, the next duel will be held on the Quidditch field in, say, two hours? Mr. Potter and Mr. Urimeshi!" With that, Dumbledore picked up his pointy hat and left the table.

Harry was flabbergasted. ANOTHER FIGHT ? ON THE SAME DAY ? Someone upstairs obviously hated him . . . even more than he thought.

* * *

(well, so I can tell this fic is going to be ungodly long, but that's okay, cuz I'm having fun writing it! So please tell me what you think! Is the very idea of a YYHxHP crossover just too crazy? Would it totally piss you off if Kurama and Hermione got together? Talk to me! Anyways, I'll probably have the next chapter up in two or three weeks . . . its hard to find time to write sometimes . . . 


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